Continuation of the Dance
by Nymera-neesan
Summary: 17 months ago, Kurosaki Ichigo lost everything. Now, he is given a chance to regain both his powers and the people he cares about.
1. Prologue

Prologue.

A myriad of colours painted the world now that spring had finally shown itself. Where once the streets had been dull and grey with winter and cold, they now flourished with colour and light. Flowers of every kind scented the air and spirits where lift high. Walking down the road towards his house was no longer such a chore, seeing as he enjoyed watching the people live their lives. Kurosaki Ichigo, now in his final year of High School, quickly hopped down the last steps of the stairs and rounded the corner into his street. A ball shot passed him and he grinned, jogging after it, catching it and tossing it back with a laugh. The kids who had been playing soccer a bit down the road hollered their thanks and went back to their game. This was what the world was meant to be like.

He turned again, repressing the skip that threatened to enter his step and rummaged around in his school bag for his keys. Finally locating them, he unlocked the front door and entered the house, taking his shoes off and putting his jacket on the coat rack before moving into the living room.

"Yuzu, Karin! I'm home!" His sisters always liked it if he gave them a shout to announce his arrival, that way they didn't have to worry about him not getting home at all. Opening the fridge, he scanned the content for a can of soda, but had to give up his search in favour of ducking.

"ICHIGOOOOO~!" With an annoyed sigh, Ichigo grabbed hold of the foot that had been trying to kick him and flung his father to the side, managing to avoid the window this time. Kurosaki Isshin yelped as he ended up flat against the wall, only to jump up and give his son a thumbs up. "Good job, my boy! I can see that my training is finally paying off!"

Ichigo merely rolled his eyes as his father went on a rampage against his late wife about how awesome and hip his son was now, choosing to go up to his room to get some homework done. He'd rather do it now than after dinner, since he wanted to go for a jog before sleeping. Taking the stairs three at the time, he entered his bedroom and firmly shut the door behind him, not wanting to be disturbed by anyone.

Sighing, he dropped himself on the bed and stared at the ceiling. It had been over a year, easily. The day he had lost not only his powers, but the ability to see his friends as well. It hurt to think about it, so he tried to avoid it, but on days like this, whenever he felt happy and content, he knew that it would happen. He'd feel guilty, like he wasn't missing them. Sometimes he just wanted to share his day with them. To come into his bedroom and find Rukia in the closet. To be woken up by Renji sitting in the open window or even by Ikkaku and Yumichika yelling at him from the streets to get his ass up and moving. And the thought of not being able to see them there, to not even hear them if they would be standing next to him right now, it hurt a lot more than he let on.

Rolling over to his side, he faced the window and remembered all the times he was pissed off at people for entering through it instead of the door. What he wouldn't give for that to happen now. With an irritated huff, he scratched his head and sat up. As if moping around right now would change anything. He knew damn straight it wouldn't. So, he would get that work done and go for that run. Stretching before he got his book bag from the floor, he crossed the room and ungracefully dumped himself on the swivelling chair. This wouldn't take too long, would it? Opening the first book, he glanced at the assignments and immediately felt a grimace come over his features. Oh man. Dumping his head on his desk, he groaned. It would take for fucking ever.

"Well, I see some things haven't changed." A deadpan voice came from his window and he sat up so fast that he was sure the muscles in his neck were no longer connected.

"Rukia?"


	2. Chapter One

_Disclaimer: All familiar characters, locations, names and other things belong to Tite Kubo. Everything else belongs to me._

A/N: A little note from me here! Thank you all those that read, faved, alerted and the first review I got! Special thanks goes to Kaze05, the first to review my story. Beyond that, while this chapter is notable longer than the prologue, I want my future chapters to be at least twice if not three times as long as this, but getting into a new story always takes a little while, right? Anyhow. Same thing as before, please leave a review, no matter what it is about!

Chapter one.

Ichigo couldn't help but stare as the black haired Shinigami let herself into his bedroom. She hadn't changed at all. Or had she grown taller? Impossible. She hadn't grown in the past three hundred years or so, why would she start doing so now? Her hair had changed a little though. She had grown it out a little and looked, well, older. If his memory served him right, she looked like her older sister, Hisana. As she stepped into the room and put one of her hands on her hips, she gave him that cocky smirk that always irked him so much. The one that said 'I know something you don't know, but I'm not telling.' He stared at her in shock.

Rukia's eyes sparkled with amusement as she held up her hand in a little wave. "Yo, Ichigo."

And he kept staring. How could he not? They hadn't seen each other in seventeen months and he felt like his heart was about to burst, or that he would wake up and find he had fallen asleep doing his homework. Pinching himself just to make sure that wasn't the case, his eyes steadily grew larger.

"Ichigo?" Rukia frowned, frustrated with his lack of reaction and moved quicker than he had ever seen her do in a gigai. The next thing he knew, the right side of his face was greeting the carpet and a foot was planted on the left. "What's that supposed to mean, huh? Here I am, showing up at your doorstep after all this time and you can't even greet me properly?"

A vein ticked in his forehead as he jumped up, shoving her off of him roughly. "Oh yeah? Well, right back at you, you bitch! The first thing you do when you see me again is kicking me in the head? What kind of greeting is that even?" They stood there, panting and glaring at each other, though Rukia was more of a disdainful glare and Ichigo was scowling more than glaring before they calmed down.

Nope, no change at all. His scowl slowly filtered away as he stepped closer, before grabbing hold of her shoulders and crushing her to his chest in a hug. She squeaked, but allowed him to do as he wanted with a small smile and a pat on the back.

She looked at the orange hair that tickled her face and her smile turned into a smirk. "You've gotten mushy in my absence." The arms around her tightened and he finally spoke.

"Shut up."

The arrival of Rukia had not gone unnoticed in the Kurosaki residence. With Karin more attuned to her Reiatsu and Isshin being who he is, the both of them had sprinted up to Ichigo's bedroom the minute they felt something there, Yuzu following behind in a panic. However, where Karin just opened the door and stood there, unable to form words to describe what she was seeing, Isshin flew through the door and kicked his son away from Rukia. "My lost third daughter~!" A cry of joy rose from the man as he made to pull Rukia into a massive hug, before a foot to the face stopped him in his tracks. "Ichigo~! Why must you torment me so?" The older man fell back, clutching his face and weeping tears of joy and sorrow at the same time.

Ichigo just gave his old man a disgusted glare before turning to Karin and Yuzu. "Yuzu, would you mind getting us some tea? I think we have some things to talk about." Turning back to Rukia, he saw that she had helped Isshin up and was now awkwardly patting him on the back in a manner of consolidation. "There, there. It's alright." He snorted for a bit, still not sure he hadn't ended up in the twilight zone. Sitting back down on the swivelling chair, his legs curling around the backrest and his hands and arms resting on top of it, he looked at Rukia.

She was still petite, though her outfit had changed a little. The previously completely black regulation shihakusho that she always worn was now decorated with small silvery white snowflakes at the sleeves. Also, the collar now had a stitched pattern on it in the same colour, though from the distance between them he couldn't tell what they were. As he observed her interacting with Karin and Isshin, he noticed something sparkling in her hair, something he hadn't noticed before. "Hey, Rukia." He squinted his eyes a little, dropping his chin on his hands as she turned towards him with a questioning look in her eyes. "What's that sparkly thing in your hair?" Blunt as always.

The shorter Shinigami turned pinkish around the cheeks and self-conscious in a way he had never seen her before, touched the thing before turning away from him. "It… ah. It was made for me." She muttered eventually, causing his frown to turn into a scowl. "Onii-sama gave it to me when I- It's made from my sister's engagement ring." His scowl lessened at the confession and he gave her a little smile.

"I see. It looks good on you." Her blush deepened and she fidgeted with the thing in her hair, which upon closer inspection turned out to be a small silver, snowflake shaped pin with a diamond in the centre. Isshin, whose presence seemed to be all but forgotten by the two teens in the room, looked back and forth between his son and his 'lost daughter', before jumping up and doing a little happy dance.

"Oh~! Masaki! I wish you were here to witness this beautiful moment! Our son, of whom we though he would never lose his virginity, get married or have a life, has finally found true love!" Turning teary eyes upon Rukia, who couldn't really do more but gawk at the man, he dropped himself to one knee and grabbed hold of her hand. "You, fair maiden, daughter of mine, take good care of my useless son for me, so that he might amount to something in life!"

The next thing he knew, he was being kicked out of the window by Karin, who had just helped Yuzu get the tea up. "Shut up Goat Face, and stop embarrassing us by being our dad." The black haired teen growled at him before sitting down next to her twin. "In any case. I assume you have a reason for being here?" Ah, lovely. She had grown into a second Ichigo and inherited his bluntness.

Rukia nodded and sat down on the edge of the bed, accepting her tea with a smile and a thank you, which made Yuzu beam with happiness. "Yes. Seireitei has enough help for now; most of the rebuilding work has been finished. Even though we've managed to build it up a bit again, there is still a lot that needs to be done. A lot of things were stolen during the fights, what with the walls of Seireitei being open to the Rukongai inhabitants." A frown marred her face and she held her teacup with both hands as she pensively looked into it.

"Not just that, but we have also suffered severe losses. The Third, Fifth and Ninth Division are without Taichou's, Fuku-Taichou Hinamori is still suffering from attacks and I've got the feeling Ukitake-Taichou isn't feeling as well as he keeps saying he is. On top of that, Yamato-Taichou stepped down as Captain Commander."

At this admission, Ichigo's eyebrows rose into his hairline. "The old man stepped down? Why? He's still as strong as ever, right?"

Rukia nodded. "It's not that he's grown weaker, but… He now heads the Central 46, to make sure no more corruption can take place. Furthermore, Kyōraku-Taichou took over from him, and he has been groomed for the position since before he graduated the Academy." Looking at his face, she smirked a bit and answered the unasked question. "Nanao-Taichou took over the Eight Division. Kyōraku-Taichou said she always did do all the work anyhow and she would do a better job than anyone else."

Ichigo chuckled. "All too true. Think he can handle being Captain Commander?"

That concern was waved away without any hesitation. "Oh yes. Chōjirō-Fuku-Taichou remained in his old position to help Kyōraku-Taichou… 'settle in' as it were." They shared a smirk and Rukia finished her tea. Putting the empty cup on the desk, she stood and turned to the window, before looking back at the three, no, four, counting Isshin who had apparently recovered and dragged himself into the door opening where he was now listening in, and grinning.

"As such, I am once more in the capacity to return to my missions full-time. Seeing that there are currently no Shinigami here to perform Konso, I was send over by Ukitake-Taichou to take that task up once again."

"What is Konso?" Karin inquired as she sipped her tea, her eyes watching Rukia with a new sort of understanding and curiosity that surprised Ichigo. He never realised Karin had gotten so involved with things. She seemed to know what Rukia had been talking about as much as he did.

"Soul Burial. It's what we do to spirits who have passed away. We send them on to the next world before they become a hollow." Looking up at Ichigo's slightly scowling face; she misunderstood the expression and quickly raised her hands. "Not that the others aren't doing a good job. It's just that they can't take care of the lost souls unless they turn into a Hollow. A Konso can really only be performed by a Shinigami."

Ichigo mulled over the information in his head, wondering why no one had been send over before if it was such a big deal. He knew Ishida and the others were kept busy on a daily basis, but not that it was this much. His thought process was interrupted by Karin once more. "You're in a gigai, aren't you? That's why your Reiatsu feels a bit odd and why Ichigo-nii can see you?"

Rukia nodded and took something out of the little Chappy the Bunny bag at her side before pulling out a Pez container much like the one Ichigo had gotten Kon from. "Yes. I have received a mod soul to help me, seeing as I will be performing tasks all over the day. Her personality isn't like mine, but you'll find she is more than capable of covering for me in class and such."

This managed to bring Ichigo out of his stupor. "Wait a moment. Class? Are you going back to school again?"

She grinned at him and gave him a thumbs up. "That's right, Ichigo! From now on I'll be attending your High School once again!"

He blinked at her and smirked. "Think you can keep up?"

"Absolutely."


End file.
